1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of trays on which recording sheets are discharged and are movable to discharge a recording sheet to a desired tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, and composite machines capable of implementing these functions, it is known to provide a plurality of trays on which recording sheets are discharged. There are two groups of trays, the first group including a non-sorting tray for receiving non-sorted recording sheets, and the second group including a plurality of sorting trays for receiving sorted recording sheets. In the usual image forming job (copy job, print job), the recording sheet is discharged to the non-sorting tray. On the other hand, in the image-forming job including sorting, recording sheets are discharged to designated sorting trays, for example, in a print job, a recording sheet is discharged to a corresponding tray among the sorting trays according to a personal computer (PC) as an output source or to an identification of a user who has logged in the PC in a print job.
In the image forming apparatuses provided with trays as described above, there are two types, one being an apparatus in which a recording sheet is discharged to an intended tray by moving the trays to thereby place the intended tray at a recording sheet discharge position of the image forming apparatus main body, the other being an apparatus in which a recording sheet is discharged to an intended tray not by moving the tray but by providing a recording sheet conveyor path extending from the recording sheet discharge position of the image forming apparatus main body to each tray. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 10-291724 discloses a recording sheet discharge mechanism of the former type.
However, in the image forming apparatus having movable trays, users are liable to dislike to use the movable trays because a longer time is required to move an intended tray to a recording sheet discharge position.